Bad CPU? Any experience out there like mine?

[blckgrffn]

Quick Version:

1) put a used CPU in a new motherboard. Flaky behavior, seems like maybe motherboard.
2) put CPU in another new motherboard. More flaky behavior.

Question:

Could this actually be a bad CPU?


Long Version:


I bought a 4400+ x2 AM2 CPU a while back used off of the forums for and HTPC build. The motherboard was a high-end (heh) Biostar (790GX chipset, I believe) complete with side-port memory and all of that.

Short story is I could never get it to run reliably as an HTPC. It would randomly lock under load, usually after a few hours, and was unreliable going into/out of sleep mode. I changed the power supply, reseated the heatsink, added video card, removed the video card, changed cases everything. Seems like a bad mobo, right?

Well, I got tired of dealing with it last fall so resinstated my trusty 3800+ x2/Gigabyte 690G combo (into the same case/power supply/video card situation) and it worked fine.

Since NFL (me) and Surviror/Amazing Race are coming up (wife) I determined it was time to finally dust off the replacement board for the Bio Star I bought, a Foxconn Cinema+ plus based on the 785G chipset.

Wouldn't you know I am getting the same damn problems. Got a sweet "Hypertransport Sync Flood" issue warning that it sounds like only a few privileged MSI and ASUS owners have been seeing in addition to freeze ups and unreliable sleep behavior.

Further, a 7850 BE that I got a few days ago and tested in that Biostar board appears to be running very solid. I have it running Prime95 on torture test and playing back music in Media Center continuously today, if its still going strong when I get home I am going to pronounce it sound enough to Craigslist.

Has anybody out there had a similar experience?

Thanks
Nat

 

[Rifter]

sounds like the CPU for sure. I have seen bad CPU's in the past that were generally flaky like you described. Also seen ones that would just not boot at all with mobos beeping CPU error codes. No one has perfect quality control.

 

[bryanW1995]

you got a bad cpu. the previous user probably overvolted the shit out of it and caused damage. probably too late at this point to ask for restitution, unfortunately.

 

[blckgrffn]

Thanks for input guys - I am trying the CPU out in a known good motherboard and am hitting it hard with Prime while having it stream audio in Media Center to keep it awake and full active.

One thing I noticed - I had always been using the same Arctic 7 Alpine cooler with this CPU, and when I pulled it off this last time it didn't appear to be making 100% contact with the IHS. Anyway, I am going to test that out too but what are the odds of aftermarket cooler being uneven enough on the bottom to cause hot spotting/instability?

Frustrating problem to troubleshoot, that's for sure.